


The Opposite Of Six Feet Under

by Jungle321jungle



Series: jungle321jungle's (Sanders Sides) Oneshots [8]
Category: Sanders Sides (Web Series)
Genre: Death But Not Really, M/M, they came back
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-23
Updated: 2020-04-23
Packaged: 2021-03-02 05:02:26
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,672
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23809573
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jungle321jungle/pseuds/Jungle321jungle
Summary: Virgil had always been able to know when people were going to die- with the date of their death floating above their heads it wasn’t exactly hard to tell. And upon contact he could always tell how they’d die too, at least he could. Until he met the one man who should already be dead.
Relationships: Anxiety | Virgil Sanders/Deceit Sanders, Logic | Logan Sanders & Deceit Sanders
Series: jungle321jungle's (Sanders Sides) Oneshots [8]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1892947
Comments: 9
Kudos: 215





	The Opposite Of Six Feet Under

** The Opposite Of Six Feet Under **

“Large coffee, black, extra hot, with two sugars, and a blueberry scone. Or are you planning to order something different, today?”

“I have no need to try something different,” the man responded. He was a regular, a blessing and a curse. The curse type were the ones which Virgil suddenly stopped seeing, or when he watched their time get closer- until he knew exactly what happened. But thankfully this man was the blessing kind, it meant Virgil at this point had grown used to the date floating about him. One in the far future. 

“But today... I won’t be alone today,” the man was saying. “So I’ll also order a large coffee, extra cream, and then enough sugar to make you sick. And I suppose a second scone.”

Virgil raised an eyebrow in amusement and moved back to the counter to drop the order off. Waiting for him was a tray or orders for the next table. He picked them up and checked the tickets, and he had just turned around when a body slammed into his and sent him sprawling to the ground. 

Virgil gave an involuntary yelp as he fell to the ground and a curse slipped out as hot liquid hit his skin. 

“Shit! I’m sorry!” Came a voice and Virgil felt a hand on his wrist pulling him to his feet. 

Contact. 

Contact was an inciter. It was how he saw- how he  _ felt _ what they would in the future. 

Virgil yanked his arm back and he heard a “sorry” mumbled in response. 

Wait. 

This is where he was supposed to see something. A vision. Hear it. Experience it. Feel this poor soul’s  _ pain _ . How he’d see how this stranger would die...  _ so why wasn’t he? _

“You alright?”

Virgil dragged his eyes up to the man’s face. He was hot and that scar covering half his face added to it, as did his one green and one almost yellow eye. But that wasn’t important. What  _ was  _ important however, was the date above his head. 

Like Virgil had learned at a young age, a date was fixed. It was the day someone died and nothing would change that. And yet the man in front of him's date, clearly read last month.

“Can you ever  _ not _ cause trouble?” The regular asked coming over to scold the other man. He then turned to Virgil, “I’m sorry. My brother will pay for dry cleaning and anything else needed.”

Virgil shook his head quickly, “I’m in college I don’t dry clean. It’s fine, not the first time I’ve gotten coffee on myself. You two head back to your seat and I’ll clean up.”

The two stayed for a while talking hurriedly in hushed voices, but Virgil couldn’t stop himself from glancing over at the man with the stopped clock. 

At the man who should be dead. 

~~~~

It was shouting and bickering which greeted Virgil at his apartment as he got back from his shift the following day. Across the hall from him two men were bickering as they held a couch between them. 

“I already miss the old place.”

“Shut up already, this place isn’t bad.”

“But why couldn’t you have gone for the condo?” The voice whined. “You were in that apartment because it was closer to your job and now you lost it, so condo right?”

“ _ First _ of all, you’re living with me  _ rent free  _ so you do not earn a say. Secondly how do you expect the bank to agree to let me buy a condo when I  _ lost my job?” _

Virgil momentarily considered ignoring both and heading to take a nap, but seeing the men’s faces he moved closer. “You guys need help?”

“Thank you for the offer- oh hello Virgil,” the regular said. “I assume this is your building as well? Well I apologize for the noise, my brother is being unreasonable.”

The brother backed into the apartment still holding the couch unsteadily, “And yet I’m still the favorite child.”

“Would you mind helping me with this side of the couch?” He asked ignoring the comment. “I had injured my arm and it’s not up to full strength.”

Virgil nodded and moved to help him, and together the three of them carried it down the hall before setting it a cleared space. 

“I’m Logan,” the regular said, suddenly holding out his hand. “I don’t believe I’ve ever properly introduced myself.” Virgil hesitated unsure before he grasped the man’s hand. 

_ Logan lies in the bed. Beside him another man slept soundly unaware of what was happening to his love. Well Virgil supposed Logan didn’t know either. Rather the elderly man slumbered on, until that peaceful rest transformed into nothingness.  _

Virgil was shocked back to the present as the hand released his, and thankfully Logan didn't seem to think anything was wrong. Instead he motioned to his brother who was peering into a box. “This is my younger brother Dante.”

“Dee,” he corrected coming forward to shake Virgil’s hand. 

Virgil set his hand in his- and yet again- he saw  _ nothing _ . It didn’t make sense. There were rules of life. Everything dies at some point. It has a set date and method of its end ingrained in the future that only Virgil could see. 

So why had this man’s future stopped a month prior?

He wanted to know- he  _ needed  _ to know... but to do that he’d have to get close to each. He’d have to get close to them knowing things about Logan’s life that he himself couldn’t comprehend. 

Other people were complicated. When they found out what Virgil could do they would try their best to avoid their fate, or to live their lives to the fullest in the time they had left. Not understanding those very thoughts were part of the design. Life and death were an irreversible design, and yet other people were so sure it could be. 

Sometimes they’d even trick Virgil himself into thinking the same. 

He’d think the same when he saw the method a friend would die and he tried his best to stop it every cost. He promised himself that he’d save his friend from their fate and yet each time he tried to intervene, the universe found away. Because Virgil’s actions were also a part of the design of the universe. 

They were a design- a  _ pattern _ . 

But then what was Dee?

And if he could overcome his fate... could other people too?

  
  


“Anything we can do to thank you Virgil?” Logan asked as Virgil set down the last of the boxes. 

“Oh we were thinking of ordering food,” Dee put in. “What do you want? We’re- or well Logan’s buying.”

Logan gave a sigh, but he nodded nonetheless. “Given we are new to this side of town, do you have any recommendations?”

“There’s a really good Mediterranean place a few blocks over,” Virgil suggested. “I think I have a menu in my kitchen.”

“That sounds good, thank you.”

“I’ll be right back.”

~~~~

“You’re later than usual,” Virgil noted as he headed over to Logan’s table. 

Logan gave a shrug, “I no longer have a job to be on time for. I just went in to finish cleaning out some of my stuff... I suppose I will no longer get coffee here either.”

Virgil held back a frown, Logan had always tipped very nicely. “Where did you used to work?” Virgil asked instead. “I know you usually wear scrubs, so I assume it's something medical?”

The man gave a nod, “I oversaw the emergency room... I also helped out the medical examiner from time to time. But as my medical license was revoked I don’t suppose it matters anymore.”

Virgil gave him an awkward nod, not truly wanting to know what could get the man stripped of such a thing. So all he said was, “I’ll get your usual.”

“Is this place hiring?” Logan asked upon Virgil’s return. 

“Uh... you want to go from a doctor to a cafe server?”

“No, I intend to find another job somewhere in a more tolerable field, I find I am not the best with people. But I was asking for my brother, he is in need of a job as one of us needs to work. Oh maybe I could find a funeral home that’s hiring?”

Virgil concluded that he prefers it more when Logan doesn’t have conversations with him- or when he made small talk like when they had eaten take out on his floor- just, just not  _ this _ . “My boss is always looking for help. Tell your brother to stop in sometime.”

~~~~

It had been a month since Virgil had met Dee and he was still no closer to figuring out why the man wasn’t dead. 

“Why do you do that?”

Virgil refocused to Dee’s face who was watching him from across the break room. “Do what?”

“You never look  _ at  _ people. You always look above their heads. You always make me feel like my hair is terrible.”

“It is,” Virgil answered simply. “Never knew how to say it out loud.” 

“I should just start wearing hats then?” Dee asked sitting across from Virgil. 

“Depends on the hat?” Virgil shrugged. “I don’t think you’re a sombrero or fez type of guy.”

“Damn I’ll need to cross those off a list. What about a top hat?”

“Cross that one off too.”

“Got it... but is there a reason or..?”

Virgil gave a shrug, he wasn’t exactly sure how to tell his coworker that the invisible clock floating above his head had run out and he should be dead, so all he said was, “People usually don’t try to talk to me if I don’t look directly at them. They get confused, and uncomfortable and leave me alone. And then I don’t need to interact with people.”

“I can tell when you lie,” Dee replied casually. “And that’s quite an interesting one.”

“Excuse me?”

“You have a tell,” Dee shrugged. “I figured it out a while ago.”

“Oh? What is it?”

Dee gave him a charming smile as he stood from his seat, “Oh Virgil, if told you then I couldn’t use it against you.”

  
  


“I do not have a tell!” 

Dee rolled his eyes, “You’re still on that? Can’t we just head home in peace?”

“No,” Virgil replied firmly. “What is it?”

“I’m not telling you.”

“What about a trade?”

Dee raised an eyebrow and Virgil knew he had him. 

“Alright, I’ll tell you your tell,  _ if _ you tell me why you really stare above people’s heads.”

Virgil held back a sigh, “Can’t you pick something else?”

“Nope. And I’ll even go first,” he offered. “I have an ability most don’t. I can see auras, and from that I can tell when people are lying. So it’s not a tell, it’s something innate I have... oh and I can see and talk to ghosts, but that's a more recent thing.”

Virgil’s mouth opened and closed in confusion for a few moments before he shook his head in disbelief, “You expect me to believe that?”

“Yeah, given you have a power too.”

Virgil’s response was automatic, “What? No I don’t.”

Dee paused in his stride and looked Virgil in the eye seriously, but his face still held that smirk, “There’s no point in lying anymore Virgil. Because you can’t get rid of your tell.”

Virgil’s mouth opened and closed soundlessly, and all he could do was watch Dee smile. 

“You don’t have to tell me at this moment,” Dee shrugged continuing in their walk. “But do know I’ll figure it out regardless.”

~~~~

“You do remember I know when you’re lying right?”

Virgil rolled his eyes. 

“What’s the point of telling that woman you like her hat when you hated it?”

Virgil bit his tongue. 

“I asked your opinion, don't lie to me.”

Virgil bit his tongue. 

“Don’t lie to my brother, only I can do that.”

Virgil  _ still _ bit his tongue. 

“No sir, Virgil wasn’t cleaning. He was taking a nap in the back.”

“I am going to murder you!” Virgil shouted as he mopped the floor angrily. “Why did you need to tell him the truth? You said you’d cover for me!”

Dee gave an innocent smile as he leaned on the counter. “Oh honey,” he sighed as if he was regarding a helpless child, “Just because I can tell when you’re lying doesn’t mean that you can tell when I am. Oh! And don’t worry as punishment for making you stay behind to mop, I’ll sit right here on the counter and watch you slave away.”

Virgil opened his mouth to retort- but there was really nothing to say. After all, nothing made sense about Dee, and his powers were the least of it. 

“What are you thinking about?” Dee asked after getting comfy on the counter in the spot Virgil had wiped down a few minutes prior. “I doubt it’s mopping.”

“You,” Virgil answered. 

Dee’s stupid smile only got wider, “Oh? What about me? My  _ brilliant _ personality?”

“No,” Virgil said firmly, shaking his head. “You’d have to  _ have _ one of those for me to think about it.”

“Disappointing,” was the reply as Dee turned his attention to his phone.

“Why aren’t you dead?”

Dee’s eyes shot up to Virgil’s face in surprise, but before he could speak Virgil continued. “You were supposed to die two months ago... Before you had asked me what I can do? Well I can see the date a person dies. And when I touch them I can see how. But your date passed, and I  _ never _ saw anything. So so- how did you  _ cheat death? _ ” 

Dee’s face was blank as he hopped off the counter and moved to the door, “I didn’t. In fact,” he continued as he turned around with that stupid smile. “I died two months ago.”

  
  


It wasn’t right. 

It didn’t make sense. 

Death was death. 

Virgil had seen and  _ failed _ to stop it more times than he’d like to count. 

When he was younger he had been convinced that he could change the things he had seen. Change the dates above his friend’s head. He had tried and he had failed. And he had lost. He’d seen visions of so many people’s deaths over the years, that he’d thought nothing would truly come as a surprise anymore. 

And yet...

And yet Dee was  _ alive _ . 

Life leads to death, that much was true and would always be true. And dying was inescapable... but it seems  _ stay _ ing dead wasn’t. 

It didn’t make sense. 

But then again, it  _ shouldn’t _ make sense. 

It shouldn’t. It shouldn’t. It-

~~~~

The night had been full of Virgil musing and thinking on how wrong everything was that he hadn’t even spent a moment sleeping. As it wasn’t until morning before all the things Dee had told him on that walk home properly processed. And the moment they did Virgil found himself pounding on his neighbor’s door. Upon opening it Virgil didn’t wait for Dee to speak, but instead pushed past him to see where Logan was making coffee in the kitchen. 

“How the  _ fuck _ do you bring back the dead?”

Logan looked at him with surprise before he frowned at his brother. “I thought we agreed  _ not  _ to tell anyone so I  _ don’t _ get kicked out of another apartment?”

“It’s fine,” Dee shrugged, moving to join him. “It’s not like you actually brought anyone back to life  _ here _ . Therefore we haven’t broken any rules.”

Logan gave a sigh, and looked back to Virgil. “I apologize for my brother’s existence. Unfortunately I wasn’t a good enough child to warrant my parents into thinking that one was enough.”

“ _ You bring back the dead?”  _ Virgil asked him trying to get back on topic. 

Logan gave a simple nod as he poured his coffee into a mug but his finger tapped against it in annoyance. “Yes. I’ve brought a number of people back- I had plenty of opportunities working in an ER and with the medical examiner. Everyone just seemed to think they were miracles. But the moment I steal my brother’s body from the morgue and bring him back to life in my apartment it’s a ‘terrible thing to do’. No one thought it was terrible when I brought back Mrs. Chester, or that kid with the tumor. It was  _ fine _ then. But do it  _ once _ in the privacy of my home and it’s a big problem. They took away my medical license you know. Like I’m sorry, I wasn’t aware that bringing back loved ones was a crime. I-” he stopped suddenly and cleared his throat. “I am sorry, I’m just ranting now.”

“Maybe ‘cause you didn’t bring everyone back?” Dee suggested. 

“I don’t have that kind of power,” Logan frowned. “Usually the body can’t be dead for more than a minute for me to help and then I feel ready to pass out, but on a few occasions in the morgue I got my length of time up to thirty minutes.  _ You _ meanwhile were dead for  _ hours _ before I got to you and then it took me  _ days _ to work on you.”

“And I appreciate it,” Dee nodded. “I mean you even got rid of my acne and corrected my vision...  _ But  _ you could’ve gotten rid of this  _ scar _ though.”

“It’s a reminder.”

“Of what? Dying?”

“Not to be stupid enough to be hit by a car again.”

Virgil couldn’t get his mouth to work- no. He couldn’t get his brain to work well enough to formulate any kind of response. So he just stood there. Staring like a gaping idiot at the two bickering brothers. 

  
  


“So... what are you going to do?” Virgil asked sitting on the couch when things had calmed. 

“Live.” Dee answered simply sitting at the opposite end. “This time round I’ve got a whole bucket list... what are  _ you  _ gonna do? You’ve seem to be taking this whole thing kind of hard.”

“I think confusion and anger are the normal responses,” Virgil defended. “You did mess with everything I know after all.”

“People just don’t understand how interesting dead things are,” Logan tossed in. “Oh tell me Virgil, what's it like to experience other people’s deaths? Oh and do you know when  _ you’re _ gonna die?”

Virgil gave a sigh, “No I don’t, and I rather not think about it.”

“But come on, if I know what people are thinking when they’re dying it might be easier to bring them back!”

Virgil paused, “Are you going to try to bring someone back during  _ their own funeral?” _

Logan gave a shrug, “I hate my boss so I have been considering it, but I don’t want to lose another job so I am resisting.”

“I can die again,” Dee offered. “I want to try skydiving. If I splat you can fix me.”

“No I won’t.”

“You’d be lost without me.”

“Incorrect.”

“You would.”

“Falsehood. But Virgil-”

“What else is on the bucket list Dee?” Virgil asked, trying to get out of the coming conversation. 

“Well I certainly want to travel,” he started slowly. “I want to try lots of foods too. Oh- and I want to do adventurous things, and mundane things. Really, I just want to do anything I can before Logan dies. Once he’s dead I can’t come back after all.”

“Well you’ve got a long time to try things then, Logan lives a long life.”

“I have to wait that long to understand my patients?” Came Logan’s disappointed tone. 

Virgil chose to ignore him, “So what’s first on this list?”

Dee gave him one of those stupid smiles, “Taking you on a date.”

Virgil felt his cheeks heat up as he shook his head, “No.”

Dee gave a laugh, “I’m sorry. Come again?”

“No.”

Dee’s smile slipped and his expression dipped into a worried one as his cheeks flushed in an adorable way. “But- but- you’ve been staring at me  _ all _ the time during work! And you’ve been so nice! And you’re even accepting the fact that I was dead and I thought you- um- shit...”

“First of all, I was staring at the date above your head... usually. And secondly, I can’t go on a date with a dead guy!”

“I’m not dead anymore! I’m like- like  _ half _ dead!”

“And if you round down, that’s all dead.”

“I’d you round up it’s  _ alive _ !”

“I’m a pessimist. I round down.”

“That’s- that’s not fair!”

Logan made a gagging sound in the background, “Are you sure I live a long time? Because I was about to ask one of you to either take this conversation elsewhere or to put me out of my misery.”

“Logan! I’m alive aren’t I?” Dee asked, ignoring his brother’s words. 

“Virgil,  _ please _ . Grab a fork, and just shove it straight through my heart.”

Virgil couldn’t help but laugh as Logan went ignored and Dee continued on with reasons as to why he accounted for a living person, and at Dee’s confused expression he smiled, “I thought you knew my tell?”

Dee’s words came to an abrupt halt as his face began to turn a bit red, “I... I hate you.”

Virgil only smiled back, “So  _ that’s _ your tell.”

“What?”

“Nothing.”

“Virgil-”

“I’m not telling. I can use it against you now.”

“That’s rude!”

“It is.” But before Dee could argue Virgil spoke again. “Maybe on this date we could try a new food? One on your list?”

Dee’s eyes seemed to light up at that as he began to rattle off ideas and as he did Virgils found his eyes drifting to that stopped clock once more. He had spent so much time focusing on why Dee wasn’t six feet under that he hadn’t realized he was glad he wasn’t. It had been a month of confusion yes, but also one of him allowing himself to get to know a person without being afraid of the known- because for once death was as it should be, unknown. And somehow, that was oh so comforting. 


End file.
